On July 17, 2020, news broke that Tamar Braxton had been hospitalized for a possible overdose and suicide attempt. Her family has asked the public for their support and prayers after it was revealed Tamar is in stable condition but unconscious.
In the past, social media users have watched as Tamar severed friendships with former BFFs, including Tiny and Toya Johnson. They’ve also witnessed Tamar’s meltdown during Instagram Live sessions. We now realize Tamar has been crying out for help for a while.
She had the post-baby blues
During a July 2013 interview with Good Morning America, Tamar Braxton revealed she didn’t immediately fall in love with her little boy, Logan Herbert, after welcoming him into the world. “I loved him, you know,” she said. “But I wasn’t like ‘Oh, gosh, yes my baby, ooh,’ you know. It wasn’t that. It was more like what do I do now, you know?”
When she was asked whether she ever felt completely unattached from her son, she answered, “I guess in a sense I did feel unattached because you know, I really, really wanted to connect with him because I wanted to breastfeed. And when he didn’t latch on and when I couldn’t produce milk I just felt like, ‘Is this the wrong child?’ You know what I mean? ‘Am I the wrong mother?'”
Tamar was quick to admit she didn’t feel depressed. However, she did feel disappointed by motherhood and was uncomfortable in her new role. The singer and reality star said it took her a few days to come to terms that she was actually a mom and Logan was her baby. And for the first week and a half after his birth, she didn’t change her son’s diapers. Instead, her then-husband Vince Herbert took on the child-rearing duties.
Tamar added: “I was questioning my motherhood. … Like, is this a mistake that God made? Or like, is this something that I need to hand over to my husband because he and the baby connected instantly. And I wanted that. And I guess I was a little jealous, pretty much.”
Her 2015 hospitalization
In 2015, Tamar Braxton snagged a spot on Dancing with the Stars, but her time on the show came to an abrupt end. In November 2015, she fell ill and was “on the brink of death,” TMZ revealed.
Tamar was rushed to the emergency room during a dress rehearsal for the show after what was believed to be pneumonia or exhaustion. The true diagnosis was far more serious when it was determined she had blood clots on both sides of her lungs.
Her DWTS partner Val Chmerkovskiy visited her while she recovered. And in an Instagram post, Tamar wrote: “I woke up to a mirror and saw myself this morning and that makes me the winner because that almost wasn’t the case.”
Thankfully, she was able to recover, but she was forced to hang up her DWTS shoes
Another medical diagnosis required rib removal surgery
Though she was able to recover from the blood clots, Tamar Braxton’s issues were far from over. In December 2015, the R&B singer revealed she was diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome, “a condition often caused when athletes overuse their upper extremities developing a muscle that pulls up and compresses the subclavian vein.”
In order to remove the obstruction and stop the cause of the blood clots, she required surgery to remove her rib. During an episode of Braxton Family Values, Tamar explained how scared she was about going under the knife, so she leaned on her then-husband and a spiritual counselor for support.
Tamar broke down after getting fired from ‘The Real’
There were rumors about trouble on the set of The Real, and Tamar confirmed those suspicious in a since-deleted May 2016 Instagram post. Tamar wrote, in part, “I love u all but I have been stabbed in the back by someone I stupidly trusted (not my man or my sisters).” She added: “Know that every one who smiles in your face is NOT your friend and is NOT cheering for you and will LIE and try and tear u down to TRY and dim your light.”
It was soon revealed that she had been fired from the talk show, and people immediately accused her co-hosts, Tamera Mowry-Housley, Loni Love, Jeannie Mai, and Adrienne Bailon, of getting her ousted.
Two weeks after it was announced that she would be leaving the show “to concentrate on her solo career,” Tamar let out her true feelings during an episode of Braxton Family Values. Tamar can be seen crying while her sister, Toni Braxton, attempts to console her.
In the episode, Tamar explains she was let go because she didn’t get along with her castmates. She said, “I don’t understand. I could probably understand more if I know that I did something but I don’t know what I did, you know?”
She also expresses how tough the year had been for her, from leaving Dancing with the Stars to her struggling album sales. She also added she felt really disrespected and let down by how things ended on The Real.
Her former co-host Loni Love went on the record during a June 2020 interview with ET Online to say she and the rest of the women had anything to do with Tamar’s departure. “None of the girls should have been blamed,” Loni said. “None of us did anything.” Loni said the decision about who remains as a host is “all above my pay grade, but people want to believe what they want to believe.”
Her mom spilled domestic abuse allegations
Things got increasingly worse in Tamar’s personal life in August 2016 when police were called to the Ritz-Carlton in Atlanta for a domestic dispute. According to TMZ, Tamar accused her then-husband Vince of biting her finger. Vince wasn’t arrested because he fled the scene. The very next day, the couple showed up at LAX together like all was well.
Tamar eventually filed for divorce. Following the split, Tamar’s mom, Evelyn Braxton, told The Grio that Tamar and Vince had a “volatile relationship.”
Evelyn said the turmoil had been “going on for years” and Vince had been both physically and emotionally abusive throughout the marriage.
“Everybody saw Vince as a knight and shining armor, [but] behind closed doors that’s a horse of another color. I’m tired of [Tamar] being abused and misused.”- Evelyn Braxton
Evelyn felt it was her duty to tell the truth in order to save Tamar. And part of her truth was an effort to expose WE tv, the network that airs Braxton Family Values.
Evelyn claimed the family spoke about the abuse during an episode of their reality show, but producers edited it out of the show. Evelyn said, “They would show all the other girls and their husbands, but when it came to Vince, they took it out of the show,” she reveals.”
Tamar obtained an order of protection against Vince, but things took another turn on Christmas Day 2017 when TMZ reported Vince was arrested for spousal abuse.
Evelyn was still hopeful Tamar would move on and find happiness, and she did. In 2018, she met a man named David Adefso. Although they’ve had their bumps in the road, their relationship appears to still be going strong. Her divorce from Vince was finalized in July 2019.
Her shaved head sparked concern from loved ones
After ending her marriage, Tamar made a drastic change by shaving her head in 2018. She initially said she decided to get rid of her locks because she felt so weighed down. She told Page Six, “My short hair represents my freedom.[…] The way I was dealing with things wasn’t a way I was necessarily proud of . . . I was masking my feelings and it started with the hair.”
Of course, her family was worried. Tamar told Page Six, “It was a natural reaction with my sisters and girlfriends. They were like, ‘Girl, what you are you going through? Are you all right? Do I need to come see you? Do you need some help? When was the last time you ate?’”
Tamar said her big chop wasn’t a cry for help. Instead, she said it was the complete opposite. “Sometimes you’ve got to build yourself up to get ready to fight the world. I used to feel pressured to look a certain way in Hollywood, but I don’t anymore. I think you can rely on your talent and work ethic to speak for yourself; that’s what I do now.”
She opened up about being sexually abused as a child
In 2018, the Braxtons decided to go on a strike from WE tv so they could handle some family issues. One way they decided to deal with the strain they felt was by receiving some help from Iyanla Vanzant. While filming, it was stated that Tamar had been sexually abused by a family member as a child. After the truth was revealed, Tamar got up and walked out of the family’s session with Iyanla.
In September 2018, she appeared on The Wendy Williams Show and talked about it in more depth. “A lot of things happened in my childhood, I was too afraid to talk about, too ashamed to talk about,” she shared. “But the truth of the matter is that, you know, I have been molested. By both sides of my family.”
Tamar also told Wendy that she didn’t intend on talking about it, and she definitely didn’t think that by bringing it up, she would be “sex shamed” by Iyanla, and that’s why she walked out of the session.
Following her appearance on the show, Tamar took to her Instagram to say:
“Since someone there decided that they would ask me about something so private, so embarrassing, so secretive in front of EVERYONE that was there, I felt like my life was flashing before my eyes and IMMEDIATELY started to cry. Not because someone decided to allow someone else to tell MY SECRET, not because I was asked if it were true in front of a hundred strangers, but because once again my right to choose was taken from me all over again.”
She went on to say that the alleged abuse occurred “not once, twice, ten, but multiple times.”
Following the Braxtons’ appearance on Iyanla’s show, Iyanla reportedly analyzed Tamar’s behavior. A source told The Jasmine Brand Iyanla didn’t believe Tamar should be on reality T.V. In fact, the insider said Iyanla was “very concerned about how reality TV is negatively impacting her mental and, subsequently, physical health.”
Her ‘Celebrity Big Brother’ appearance left fans worried
Despite Iyanla’s concerns about Tamar appearing on reality TV, the R&B singer entered the Celebrity Big Brother house. It wasn’t long before fans became worried about Tamar’s behavior.
During a January 2019 episode, Tamar sat down with her housemate Kandi Burruss to discuss Tamar’s beef against her. Kandi told cameras that Tamar pulled a shady move when they were all on The Great Xscape tour together. It was later determined Tamar brought the artist Khia (my neck, my back) to the concert, although Khia had got into a spat with some of the members of Xscape and R&B singer Monica. Tamar was eventually kicked off the tour.
Tamar told Kandi she felt she was bullied and forced to work in an unprofessional environment while on tour, which caused Kandi to laugh. Tamar got ticked off and walked away. She headed to the confessional area where she broke down in tears.
Fans took to their social media accounts and were shocked by Tamar’s breakdown. One fan wrote: “I really hope Tamar’s family gets her some professional help. There is no reason to bust out crying like that there’s obviously something deeper.”
She ‘hates’ what ‘BFV’ has done to her family
“I absolutely, positively hate it. I hate what it’s done to my family. Looking back and watching how the situations grew into something else, we realized that we had to create boundaries and a lot of the sisters were resistant.” – Tamar Braxton
Tamar added that they were “going through the growing pains” in an effort to get their family back to a better place.
Are the Braxtons being ‘screwed’ by their reality TV contract?
Days before her suspected overdose and alleged suicide attempt, Tamar Braxton opened up on Twitter about her family’s ongoing issues with WE tv. Back in April 2019, Toni, Towanda (pictured, left), Trina, and Tamar all went on strike from the series, while their sister Traci continued filming. The sisters were upset that Traci didn’t stand united with them, and Traci eventually went on strike, as well, ET Online reports.
When a Twitter user told Tamar they should take their show to a black-owned network so the family could receive the money the deserved, Tamar had this to say on Twitter:
Tamar and her family have appeared on the We TV reality show for six seasons and a total of 142 episodes. The show consistently delivers high ratings, but Tamar and her family continue to feel as if they aren’t compensated fairly.
An alleged overdose and suicide attempt
On Thursday, July 16, 2020, Tamar’s boyfriend David Adefso found her “unresponsive” inside their Downtown LA Ritz-Carlton Residences. He called 911 and reported Tamar had been drinking and had taken an unknown amount of prescription pills. According to The Blast, the ambulance arrived and transported Tamar to the hospital. A source told TMZ Tamar had been upset earlier in the day and had threatened suicide. As of this writing, she is in stable condition but unconscious.
A spokesperson for the Braxton family released the following statement to the New York Post, which reads: “Tamar has had a very tough and emotional day – more information will be coming in the next few days. Please pray for her.”
Tamar and David have a popular YouTube series called Coupled & Quarantined. An episode that was scheduled to air last night was postponed. A statement on Tamar’s YouTube channel said she was feeling “under the weather.”
She allegedly felt ‘blindsided’ by her new reality show trailer
Things got worse for her this past week when the trailer for her new reality show Get Ya Life was released. Sources told the gossip website that Tamar felt blindsided by the trailer and hated the way she was portrayed.
#PrayersUp
If you or someone you know is in distress and can benefit from receiving mental health treatment, call the 24-hour hotline of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (1-800-273-8255) to be connected to a trained counselor at a suicide crisis center nearest you.